Saute onion until as limp as your writerly muse after a weeklong bout with writer’s block. Add turkey and brown. Sprinkle on spices. (Good time to recall that variety is the spice of life, and vary your sentence types to add interest.) Pour in soup and milk. Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes or so. Cover and cook on low for @15 minutes. Prepare noodles according to package, then drain. (Feeling drained by your WIP? Try switching to a different project for a bit.) Garnish with parsley if desired. Serves 8-10.

**Literary Associations: The 18th century Russian noble family Stroganov is best known today for this namesake recipe, but most likey, beef stroganoff began as peasant fare before landing on Count Pavel Stroganov’s table. Tolstoy described Russian society of that era in War and Peace as being enamored with all things French, so the desire to cook in the French style may be credited with the invention of this favored dish.

Ah, so once again, it all comes back to Napoleon. You’ve inspired not only literary leftovers, but a desire to dive into Tolstoy again. But then again, after all that turkey tryptophan, the movie version of Anna Karenina might be the way to go. ;-) Thanks Angie!

I have plenty of ‘literary leftovers’ that I stew on and one day will bring to full boil.

And on a tangent because you triggered the memory, I will confess something. When I was a teenager my father gave me War and Peace to read. The result…I went about introducing myself to strangers as ‘Natasha’.